Belt pickups for agricultural combines are agricultural harvesting heads that gather previously cut crop plants that have been gathered into windrows. Belt pickups typically have a pickup conveyor that picks the cut crop up from the ground, a transfer conveyor disposed behind the pickup conveyor that transfers the cut crop material from the pickup conveyor to an auger conveyor, and an auger conveyor that receives the cut crop material from the transfer conveyor, gathers the cut crop material in from the sides of the belt pickup and sends it through a central aperture in the rear of the frame of the belt pickup.
The cut crop material passing through the central aperture is transmitted to a belt conveyor in the feeder house that extends forward from the front end of an agricultural combine. The feeder house conveys the cut crop material into the body of the agricultural combine where it is threshed, separated, cleaned, and the grain portion of the cut crop material is stored in a grain tank.
One problem with this arrangement is that the pickup conveyor and the transfer conveyor are driven by separate hydraulic motors.
What is needed, therefore, is a drive system for a belt pickup that permits a single motor to efficiently drive both the pickup conveyor and the transfer conveyor.